One time or another in life we all go through hard times. Some of our hard times are financial and even though you had all intentions to paying back a loan or credit card sometimes things happen that our debt cannot be paid back on time.
Contrary to many people,collection agents and collectors say, being in debt and not being able to pay those debts is not always your fault. You might have at the time been fully employed paying off your debts as they came in and always been responsible or trying to be responsible. A real part of reality is that not everyone will be financially ok at all times no matter how hard we work or how hard we try.
Companies layoff workers, economies go into recessions, businesses close, times change what you were successful at yesterday might not have a market today. The truth is that the credit companies and banks that gave you credit and these loans knew this and were hoping for it. They gave you credit in hopes that you would pay late and pay their high interest rates. Those rates that you paid all that time probably already paid off your core debt. The rest being all profit.
When you no longer can pay these creditors and banks sell off your accounts to debt collectors and collection agency. This is one of the least controlled fields in the consumer credit and all of businesses. There is no special license needed, no background checks , nothing that will prevent illegal agents and agencies from breaking the law.
If we have been unfortunate in life then we know what it is like to get those phone calls, those letters. We feel bad , we feel scared , and we often are abused by collection agencies. Knowing that we already feel guilty about our debt is the reason why collection agencies think they can away with harassing you .
You do have very clear rights though. A federal law known as the Fair Debt Collection Practices Act limits what debt collectors can do to harass you about debts. This holds true for all debt collectors including attorneys.
What debt collectors are allowed to do is call you , call you at work , and contact you by mail. They have every right to try to collect a debt.
What debt collectors not allowed to do ?
A debt collector cannot contact you before 8 am or after 9 pm
Call you continuously or harass you
Use Profane language
Claim to be an attorney or government employee when it is not.
Send you documents that look like legal papers when they are not.
State that forms sent to you are not legal documents when they are.
Say that you committed a crime.
Call your work after you or your company say its not permissible
Call your neighbors, friends or family if they know where you live.
Claim to law enforcement
Make any claim or discuss law enforcement, arresting you, going to jail, being a police officer, taking you to criminal court , etc etc.
Tell anyone about you debts.
Threaten you in any way.
Yell at you
Call you names
Says it will garnish your wages or sell your property if it is not legal to do that.
Says it will sue you, if the collector doesn’t intend to sue.
Is not truthful about the amount of money you owe.
Says you will be arrested if you don’t pay the debt.
Threatens you with violence.
They cannot call you and not tell you who they are .
Cannot leave a message without identifying who they are and for what reason they are calling for; they must state their name and company and that they are calling you in regards of debt and all information collected will be used to collect the debt, and the message should not be heard by anyone else.
All those things are methods used by Collections agencies and all the above examples are illegal and you can be compensated at least 1000 thousand dollars plus lawyer and any damages caused by the collector.
If you have experienced any of the above situations I strongly suggest you contact a Consumer Attorney. You will win your case and it is best to start saving the messages and do not speak to any collector at all , have them all go to your voice mail and save them .
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